THE RITUALS - curated exhibition (2017)

Nudity, flesh pulling and body suspension - The Rituals is an exhibition that explores sacred and personal forms of ritualism and its effects on the human psyche and physical body. Showcased are four multi-disciplinary Western Australian artists - Circus Carnis, Marijke Loosjes, Matthew Pope and Frater Sorath, their exhibited artworks will be in the mediums of sculpture, literature, textiles and printmaking.

Rituals are key in society, religion and culture. It is their obsessive and repetitive natures that create the actions, gestures and words which heavily identify self. The Rituals exhibition looks specifically at the impacts of rituals on the physical body and the psyche. Artist duo Circus Carnis present the body as a piece of meat, a spectacle of the ritual, to be manipulated but at the same time testing psychological and physical strengths. Using the body as an object, Matthew Pope explores ritualised marking and the relationship with the materiality of the tools that scar. Marijke Loosjes presents the various stages of the grief-stricken mind and in a cathartic process dismantles it for the viewer. Through evocation Frater Sorath jars the psyche and transfers the audience to an altered state of consciousness.

Opening night will showcase live performances that link back creatively to the works on display.

PERFORMANCE STATEMENTS

Marijke Loosjes
Drowning

Drowning is a performance piece that explores stages of grief and in the healing process the steps which take us forward and the steps that take us back. It becomes a ritualised process in which you can choose to not heal and become stuck in a loop of pain and numbness. Symbols of death hang heavy over head, claws holding a netting that blocks the artist from the viewer, representing a mental blurring and cloudiness from depression, throughout this piece it is seen that there is a comfort and displacement found within this netting. The process of healing is shown through red bandages, red is used for its association to injury and pain, the removing of the bandages and clothing show an attempt at a healing, at moving forward. Yet the need to stay connected means avoiding letting completely go therefor the detrimental cycle begins again with the return to the netting.


Circus Carnis
I AM THE BEAST I WORSHIP (Flesh hook suspension, glass walking, stomach & elbow hook flesh pull) 

Circus Carnis adapt and incorporate elements of ancient tribal rituals into their performances, including suspension, piercing/skewering, and flesh pulling. Their purpose is not only to entertain, but to demonstrate the psychological and physical strength of the human body. Hooks in the flesh are used to worship the body and the strength of the bearer.

Todd suspends in the gallery from hooks pierced into the flesh of his back, connected to Jade via one hook in his stomach and one hook in each of her elbows. Jade walks a circle beneath Todd's suspension, which in turn rotates him. The rope attachment is similar to that of the method used to tame a wild horse. The horses is tied with a long rope to a 'patience pole' in a field, so it feels free to move around. Over a number of weeks, the rope is gradually shortened and the horse walks in a smaller and smaller circle, learning control. For each rotation completed, Jade walks across a bed of broken glass. For us this symbolises mind over matter, the couple are unified while Todd teaches Jade to overcome pain and accept it as a passing state of being. 


Matthew Pope
Barbed Wire Hula Hoop

Barbed Wire Hula Hoop is a performance piece created in 2014 by artist Matthew Pope. The performer circles a hula hoop around his body for as long as possible before it falls, repetitively cutting the stomach of the artist. Exploring the repetitious act of self-harm and pushing the limits of the human body, Barbed Wire Hula Hoop investigates the ritualistic and repetitive act of self-harming and mark making on a human subject with religious connotations.
The hula hoop has been linked to the Crown of Thorns, as well as the performance itself, being connected to Flagellantism - a religious ritual of whipping ones body. Barbed Wire Hula Hoop is being re-performed for The Rituals, examining the idea of a repetitive action affecting the body and mind of the artist, physically and mentally. 


Frater Sorath

This performance is a demonic evocation. It is a ritual taken from the Goetia, an infamous medieval grimoire of dark magick.
The piece is a modernised, artistic rendering of the Goetic evocation. The work incorporates sight, smell and sound in order to conjure the chosen spirit in the human consciousness. More ancient methods – such as the burning of incense and the drawing of sigils – will be accompanied by an atmospheric soundscape. The sounds in question are derived from the Sun, as detected by NASA instruments. My reason for this choice is that each demon of the Goetia is attributed to one of the seven classical planets, and the spirit I am evoking is Solar in nature.

In my performance I am evoking Asmodeus. In the Jewish tradition, Asmodeus was known as the ‘King of the Demons’. According to myth, Asmodeus is said to have impersonated the ancient King Solomon, taking his place on the throne for a time. The demon also helped Solomon construct the temple at Jerusalem. Some demonologists also identify Asmodeus with Abaddon, the destroying angel who emerges from the Abyss during the Apocalypse.

In my piece, I draw together the cosmic and the personal. The entity my ritual purports to evoke is beyond this world, yet it may just as easily be described as part of my own psyche. This demon in particular is very personal to me; Asmodeus is the demon presiding over the exact time of my birth. It is the very nature of evocation to draw the cosmic down into the medium of the personal - through instinct, thought and feeling. Everything in this ritual is designed to jar the psyche and transfer the viewer to an altered state of consciousness.


Curator + Producer - Marijke Loosjes

Exhibited at Ferguson Foundry in Perth, Western Australia.
4 September - 9 September 2017

Photographs by Jessica Eva

Metamorphosis - curated exhibition (2012)

The world we live in is forever evolving and changing, new ideas are constantly being created and built upon. The idea of art has been constantly evolving and changing, from times of the great masters passing on their knowledge to the birth of contemporary art, with artists such as Marcel Duchamp placing his bicycle wheel attached to a stool in a gallery to overturn the concept of what is artistic value. The way in which we think and view art and in fact ideas in general has changed but this change has occurred from a strong and ongoing foundation of knowledge, this knowledge has paved the way for us to build on ideas, change ideas and be influenced by the ways of thinking others have founded.

Curated by Perth artist Marijke Loosjes, the exhibition Metamorphosis focuses on the way we are influenced within the artistic world, specifically the way in which artists can influence each other and allow the generation of new works to occur. The visual influence of artists can manifest in a number of ways, from strong visually linked derivatives to works with almost invisible guidance and strong conceptual relations. The beauty that influence allows is a generation of new ways of approaching an idea, which creates interesting alternatives and viewpoints to emerge on the same topic, this creates a greater understanding and a discourse between the various ways of thinking, a process that allows art and ideas to flourish, evolve and even completely change through a metamorphosis of thinking and making.

Twelve artists, from a variety of disciplines were chosen to participate in this exhibition, each were paired with another, one artist created a piece based around the theme of Metamorphosis, the other artist was then asked to responded to this piece and create a new work. The result of this process is two works of art, different in mediums and appearance, but with strong influential ties to each other. This created an experience for the viewer, having two works that are a direct relation to each other visible at the same time, in an effort to bring a feeling of a strong relationship and connection between the works while still having the full impact of each work individually, this also allowed the ideas that drive the work to become apparent.Ideas through history have always been built upon, changed and amalgamated. Ideas and concepts are constantly evolving and in a state of flux which results in a manifestation of new forms.
Metamorphosis is an inquiry into this conceptual transmutation.

Essay by Lance Ward.


Artist Pairings (Left to Right)
Kia Groom + Marijke Loosjes
Shaun Ferraloro + Calliope Bridge
Feodor Valiev + Tim Watson
Alira Callaghan + Lance Ward
Kate Greenaway + Jessica Sorci
Tatjana Pilkington + Bonnie Boogaard

Curator + Producer - Marijke Loosjes

Exhibited at Free Range Gallery in Perth, Western Australia.
12th May - 22nd May 2012

Photographs by Marijke Loosjes